Xbox Game Pass
The most recommended of 4 game subscription services
People recommend it as a large library of games for a monthly fee, often cheaper than buying titles one at a time. The most common caveat is that recent price increases have made it a weaker deal.
People recommend it as a large library of games for a monthly fee, often cheaper than buying titles one at a time. The most common caveat is that recent price increases have made it a weaker deal.
106 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 28
- criticize it
- 78
- approval share
- 26%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 4 years
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 28 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Large game library for a monthly fee
“Millions of people would rather pay monthly for thousands of games vs $70 for one?”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox” “gamepass + xbox is the closest thing to netflix for games”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Xbox continues its “reset” with dramatic restructuring” “still the best deal for renting & streaming content”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Xbox wants you to pay 24 to 40 cents per hour to stream games you bought” Cheaper than buying games individually
“One Game Pass sub is worth more than marketplace fees from 3 extra games you would normally buy used.”
Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “List of references on Sony websites to players "owning" their digital games” “buy one month of the PC game pass for $15AUD. An obvious choice.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox” “It's been too good a value to feel possible”
Comment from 17 Jan 2026 in “Italy investigates Activision Blizzard for pushing in-game purchases” - Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'”
- Comment from 5 May 2026 in “Windows quality update: Progress we've made since March”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Price increases reduced its value
“With this year's price hikes though that's not the case anymore, you are better off just buying a good $20 game every month”
Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “2025 was the year Xbox died” “their Ultimate game pass service is now $30 a month (in the US), which seems to be pricing out a lot of their members”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices” “Microsoft already botched Game Pass by showing their cards too early via substantial price increases”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm” - Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox”
Hurts sales of new single-player games
“Release a single player game day 1 on freaking gamepass, and then wonder why the sales numbers aren't happening.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Majority of id software to be laid off by Microsoft” “several million-dollars production budgets sharing minuscule pieces of a ~$20 all-you-can-eat subscription pie”
Comment from 7 May 2026 in “Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license” “What MS has in the end is a game sold for a fraction of the price and no customer conversion to subscriber.”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Game Pass Was Supposed to Save Xbox – Instead, It's Killing the Company” - Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox”
Not profitable as a business model
“Game Pass was never a sustainable business model.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox” “Game Pass, while good, isn't really making money.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox” “It's a massive loss leading (or rather, low margin leading) service relying on a pseudo-rental service to provide value.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox” - Comment from 26 Jun 2026 in “Apple announces significant price increases for MacBooks, iPads, more”
Account and sharing problems
“Juggling Microsoft accounts, Nintendo accounts, menu-diving through one of 37 different account details pages, Xbox accounts, GamePass subscriptions”
Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “I traced $2B in grants and 45 states' lobbying behind age‑verification bills” “It was astoundingly unusable for sharing Microsoft's own game within my own household with my own family members.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Valve is running Apple's playbook in reverse”
Other game subscription services people recommend
The three most recommended other game subscription services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox Game PassThis page | 28 | 78 | 26% | 10 | 4 yrs5 owners | — |
| Apple Arcade | 22 | 10 | 69% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Meta Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp subscriptions | 7 | 44 | 14% | 2 | — | — |
| Nintendo Switch Online | 6 | 7 | 46% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 116 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The only bright spot was Game Pass which was working pretty well”
“still the best deal for renting & streaming content”
“putting time limits on the subscription. Not enough to complete a single player game in a month at the highest tier”
“They're both really great for me as more of a casual gamer”
“gamepass + xbox is the closest thing to netflix for games”
“how easy it was to get cheap (even free) gamepass”
“One Game Pass sub is worth more than marketplace fees from 3 extra games you would normally buy used.”
“What MS has in the end is a game sold for a fraction of the price and no customer conversion to subscriber.”
“Wanted to make it easy to see the difference between the Xbox Gamepass tiers”
“GamePass failing to convert casual players while demolishing your take from your hardcore players”
“i generally keep my PC game pass subscription active, and will check if games are on there before getting them elsewhere”
“buy one month of the PC game pass for $15AUD. An obvious choice.”
“Release a single player game day 1 on freaking gamepass, and then wonder why the sales numbers aren't happening.”
“Millions of people would rather pay monthly for thousands of games vs $70 for one?”
“the gamepass numbers aren't really boosting it back up”
“Lamepass should have been much closer to "buy a new release, get a month of gamepass games for free"”
“The people I know that like Xbox like Game Pass and Buy Once Play Anywhere.”
“Where I think it breaks down is quite a number of gamers are hopelessly addicted to playing all the latest games”
“Hardware is great, GamePass is great, but Microsoft can't produce games.”
“I'm quite happy with the GamePass selection, and I consider it an excellent value for me.”
“I certainly enjoyed gaming their rewards system for years on a series S.”
“Game Pass, while good, isn't really making money.”
“As a way of releasing new AAA titles it's crazy.”
“this kind of game would not be possible without Gamepass”
“It's a massive loss leading (or rather, low margin leading) service relying on a pseudo-rental service to provide value.”
“they kept increasing the cost of Game Pass with no new features, the platform has seemed stagnant”
“Game Pass was never a sustainable business model.”
“Gamepass was never popular enough to justify the expenses and investments on the level they did.”
“The feature being bundled in with GamePass makes it worth it.”
“several million-dollars production budgets sharing minuscule pieces of a ~$20 all-you-can-eat subscription pie”
“Gamepass is not a bad deal too.”
“game passes have demolished piracy in countries where people wouldn't have dreamed of paying”
“gamepass made it all a total steal”
“Juggling Microsoft accounts, Nintendo accounts, menu-diving through one of 37 different account details pages, Xbox accounts, GamePass subscriptions”
“It's been too good a value to feel possible”
“With this year's price hikes though that's not the case anymore, you are better off just buying a good $20 game every month”
“It was astoundingly unusable for sharing Microsoft's own game within my own household with my own family members.”
“their Ultimate game pass service is now $30 a month (in the US), which seems to be pricing out a lot of their members”
“Microsoft already botched Game Pass by showing their cards too early via substantial price increases”
“Xbox's GamePass is trying to do something, but everything there comes down to buying some cheap shared subscription”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.